Fallen Angel
by Sea Queen - JoKessho
Summary: A clumsy angel ends up in the wrong country and meets a bored office worker, who takes the angel in. Not your typical Angel-Human story. Taiyama, Taito, AU, multi-chapter (though updates will be sporadic at best, apologies in advance)
1. Chapter 1

**OTP week 2017  
Pairing**: Taichi and Yamato (Taiyama)  
 **Prompt** : Fantasy AU  
 **Summary:** A clumsy angel ends up in the wrong country and meets a bored office worker, who takes the angel in. Adjusting to life on Earth isn't always easy. Taiyama, Taito, AU, multi-chapter (though updates will be sporadic at best, apologies in advance)  
 **Warnings:** If you're very religious (Christian), then (what are you doing, reading my gay fanfics?) this might offend you.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Taichi Yagami sighed deeply as he made his way out of the office building he spent at least eight hours a day in. He had a boring nine-to-overwork job, and, whenever he was free, his boring friends never wanted to do anything fun.

With a yawn, he joined the mass of people walking down Tokyo's busy street. They were all eager to get home to their loved ones. Taichi, at 30, was boringly single.

Taichi turned right, onto a less crowded street. He inspected the faces of the other pedestrians, since now he could actually make out individuals. They all looked more-or-less alike. No one paid anyone else any heed; everyone just minding their own business. It was a bit boring.

"Hey, sorry?" Came a voice from Taichi's left.

Taichi turned, coming face-to-face with a pale, blond man, about his height. Taichi blinked at him a few times. He seemed to _glow_ in an ethereal way.

The stranger shifted from one foot to the other, nervous. "I just wanted to ask if it hurt when you fell."

Taichi continued to stare.

The blond man looked even more uncomfortable, avoiding Taichi's eyes. "From Heaven, I mean. Because it kind of hurt when I did, and I thought that maybe I did it wrong…" His blue eyes met Taichi's brown from under blond strands.

"W-what?"

The blond's face was expectant. He glanced around at the people pushing past them.

"Did it hurt when you fell from Heaven? Because I think I bruised my ass falling." To highlight his point, the blond rubbed lightly at his backside.

Taichi's eyes were wide, mouth agape.

The stranger shifted to rub at his arm, eyes falling to the ground on Taichi's right.

Taichi noted that he was wearing a white, long-sleeved button-up with tight-fitting, ripped blue jeans. The shirt was tucked in and sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Smart casual—contrasting Taichi's business suit—but nothing otherworldly.

"You did fall, right?" The blond prompted, eyes again on Taichi.

"Um, no?" Taichi hedged.

Blue eyes widened, flying around their surroundings.

"Really?" When he received a nod as an answer, he placed a hand on his hip, the other running through his hair. "Shit."

Taichi looked around, noting that the stranger was attracting attention from passersby. Not that it was surprising: blonds were rare in Japan.

"Listen," Taichi turned back to the other man. "Um, if you need a place to stay or something, you can maybe come over to my place." What was he saying? Inviting a weirdo into his home. Shut up, shut up, shut up! "You know, at least until you've figured out what to do."

The blond smiled, and Taichi had to—maybe—go back and correct his earlier thought: there might actually be something otherworldly about him. Definitely not his clothes, though.

"Could I? Really? Because I think I just made a huge mistake—or a few, actually—and I need to figure out how to fix them…" He threw Taichi an inquisitive look.

"Uh, it's not a problem for me if you stay."

The blond's eyes crinkled at the corners as his smile widened. "Thanks."

The twenty minute walk to Taichi's apartment complex was spent in silence. Taichi was trying to piece all the events of the past half an hour together. Was the blond serious about having fallen from Heaven? Or was it just a pickup line? (It had worked). But he had sounded so genuinely concerned…

Taichi glanced at the blond. The other man was inspecting his surroundings, inquisitive eyes flitting from one billboard to another.

With a definitive nod to himself, Taichi decided he was a foreigner. Maybe he had been drunk and was confused. Another glance at the blond. Okay, so maybe his clothes didn't give any indication that he had spent last night—and all of today—drinking. Taichi frowned.

"Um." Came the stranger's voice again, shy and quiet. "I'm Yamato, by the way. I don't think I caught your name…"

"Oh, right, Taichi. Taichi Yagami."

Same Taichi Yagami that had stupidly walked past his apartment complex. He mumbled something incomprehensible, avoiding the blue eyes, and doubled back.

Upon entering the apartment, Taichi had to instruct Yamato to take off his shoes. Yep, definitely a foreigner.

Taichi pointed out the bathroom door on their immediate left. Then they made their way straight through the short, narrow hallway, and into the main living space. The kitchen and living room were separated by an island countertop. The bedroom was walled off from the living room.

Taichi got them cold drinks and invited Yamato to take a seat on his two-seater couch.

"So, where are you from?" Taichi asked, sipping his drink. He had opted for a chair, not comfortable sharing the couch with the stranger.

Yamato blinked a few times, caressing his glass. "Uh, Heaven?"

The phone rang, interrupting Taichi's reply. He excused himself, got up, placed his drink on the coffee table, and walked over to answer the mobile in his briefcase.

"Hi mum."

"Hi Taichi." A younger voice replied.

"Oh, Hikari. Why are you calling from mum's phone?"

"My battery's dead. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I got the job, so I'll be moving to Africa next month." Blunt and to-the-point; it was the best approach with dropping a bomb this big on Taichi, and Hikari knew.

"Oh." Taichi stood still, trying to process the information. His little sister was moving abroad, to another country. A dangerous country.

"Taichi?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"I'll call you later, okay? After you've had time to process this." She hung up.

Taichi stood still, holding his phone at his side, not knowing what to think.

Hikari had started working for a non-profit organisation right after graduation. She would be going to Africa—she hadn't even said which country—to teach children to read. Admirable, but Africa could be dangerous, especially to someone as fragile and prone to illnesses as Hikari… Was Taichi exaggerating Hikari's fragility? Maybe, but he was also worried about his sister contracting some deadly disease. Wasn't Ebola a thing over there?

"Taichi?"

Said brunet turned around to face Yamato, whom had wandered into the hallway.

"Is everything alright?"

Taichi looked at the phone in his hand again, tossing it onto the small table on his left. He forced a smile onto his face.

"Yeah, it's just a little family thing..."

"Oh." Yamato looked genuinely interested. "It must be a nice feeling to care so much about someone. About family."

Taichi was taken aback by the point of view. Yeah, it was nice to have family and other loved ones, but this situation wasn't what he'd call 'nice.'

Whilst Taichi was contemplating this, Yamato took a look around the small entrance hallway. It was bare except for the small table that housed a set of keys and the phone Taichi had just thrown on it. There were no pictures on the walls.

Shaking his head, Taichi smiled more genuinely at his guest. "Should we go back to the living room? There are a few more things I want to ask you…"

Yamato nodded, letting Taichi pass him and lead the way to the other room again. Both drinks were on the coffee table, sweating lightly.

"We're not in France, are we?" Yamato asked, hesitantly, re-taking his seat on the couch.

Again, Taichi was baffled by what came out of the blond's mouth.

"France? Why would we be in France?"

Yamato let out a sigh, casting his gaze outside the glass-windowed doors that led to a small balcony.

"That's where I was supposed to go. I just received a message from the Travel Agency that I really screwed up, and they've fixed things on the French end, but they can't help me here. Where are we?" The question was more of an afterthought, it seemed.

"Let me get this straight:" Taichi shifted on his chair, elbows leaning on his knees. "You're an Angel from Heaven, you were supposed to go to France, but you ended up in Japan, landing on your ass?"

"Yes."

Taichi dropped his head, covering his face with his hands.

"God help me."

Yamato shifted uncomfortably, frowning. "Why would he do that?"

Taichi looked at Yamato from between his fingers. "There actually is a God?"

Yamato shrugged. "Yeah, of course there is. Why?"

"Why doesn't he answer people's prayers, then?"

The blond stared, blinking for a few seconds, before he let out a burst of laughter. "Oh, wow. Is that what Humans think? That God is supposed to answer your prayers?"

"Um, yes?"

"Really?" Yamato actually looked genuinely interested now. "What kinds of prayers?"

Taichi shifted in his seat, not wanting to look at the blond. "Well, I guess help with everyday things and magical healing of the severely sick. Sending you Angels down to Earth to protect us from bad things. Or something. I'm not too sure, actually, since we don't really believe in God in Japan. But that's what I know of the western belief system."

A fine blond eyebrow rose. "You think we protect you?" Then his eyes widened. "You're not expecting me to protect you, are you? Because—to be honest—I have no idea what I should be protecting you from, or how. I've never been to Earth before."

As the talk progressed, Taichi was taking more interest in his guest, shifting closer to the edge of his seat. "What is your job or mission, then? Why are you here?"

"Well, from what we've learned at university, we have very similar societies. Ours is just in a different dimension." He shrugged, reaching for his previously-untouched drink. He took a sip before continuing. "I'm on Earth because I wanted to come."

Waving his hand frantically, Taichi moved to sit on the couch, next to Yamato. "Wait, wait, wait. Back up. What do you mean 'society' and 'different dimension?'"

Yamato scooted a bit closer to his armrest, away from Taichi. "You never took courses on Angel Cultural Studies? Or whatever the equivalent here is."

"Um…"

"You didn't? Oh, well, I know plenty of Angels that also didn't want to take any Human Cultural courses; it's fine and I'm not saying it's a bad thing." He paused, chewing on his bottom lip lightly. "But haven't any of your friends corrected your beliefs about us?"

"Uh…" Taichi grabbed his drink, chugging half of it down. He took his time setting the glass back on the table, eyes moving to his knees. "We don't have anything like that at school or university…" He risked a glance from under his fringe. "Actually, a lot people in the world don't even believe in Angels…"

Yamato's face fell and Taichi felt his gut wrench.

"Oh."

Taichi shifted, feeling sweat starting to trickle down his neck. He should really change out of his suit. For now, he just loosened his tie.

"I mean, I knew, but…" Yamato continued, rubbing at his arm again. "I guess it's just kind of a shock, considering how much of my life I've dedicated to learning about Humans and how much I wanted to come here. Wanted to be part of your society."

Taichi's eyes snapped to Yamato, though the blond was looking off to the side, missing it.

"You keep saying that you wanted to come here." Yamato's eyes finally met his. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"Oh, well, I majored in Human Culture and just graduated. We have a choice of becoming teachers by going into further study, or coming to Earth to mingle with you lot and starting lives here."

"But why? Isn't Heaven like paradise? Why would you want to come here?"

Yamato cleared his throat—though it sounded more like he was covering up a chuckle. "I wanted to get a fresh start. Away from my family and m—anyway," He cleared his throat again, for real this time. "I wanted to come here and maybe make some friends and find a job and settle down. Mingle with Humans. Have a life here."

Yamato sounded so forlorn that Taichi smiled gently and reached out a hand to grab Yamato's.

"That can all be done. In fact, you've already made a friend, right?"

Blue eyes stared, hopeful. "Really? We can be friends?"

"Yeah." Taichi pulled his hand away, nodding enthusiastically. "I think we're well on our way to becoming great friends!"

Yamato smiled, but it was fleeting. "I don't know how to go about getting a job here, though. I had paperwork for France, but since I messed up…"

"Well find you work!" Taichi cheered, then he frowned. "What's the deal with this France thing?'"

Yamato averted his eyes. "Oh, I was supposed to be sent to France to settle down. The Travel Agency takes care of paperwork and such, so that we can start new lives, pretending we've been on Earth all our lives. They provide all the housing and CVs and another Angel as a contact person."

"Do you have another Angel to contact here?"

Yamato shrugged. "I don't know; we're not really supposed to expose our identity. The Angel I was supposed to be contacting looked like you, so I thought it was you. But since we're not in France…"

Sensing that Yamato didn't want to discuss the matter further, Taichi got up from the couch, stretching his arms above his head.

"I'm starving. What would you like for dinner? Mind you, I'm not a good cook, so I usually just eat simple or ready meals." He looked towards his fridge, cringing. "Though I don't think I have that much food… Maybe we should just have a snack and then go shopping. What do you say?" Taichi asked, smiling down at the blond.

Yamato returned the smile. "Shopping sounds fun. And don't worry about cooking; I'm a pretty decent cook, so I can take care of that, whilst I'm imposing on you like this. And I can also clean."

"You can cook?" Taichi looked intrigued, then waved a hand nonchalantly at Yamato. "And it's not imposing, since I invited you." Taichi walked to the fridge, opening the door. "Let's see what we can find."

"Oh, I don't need anything right now. Please just eat and I'll wait."

Taichi threw a frown over his shoulder. "Are you sure? Because it's really no problem."

"I'm sure."

"Alright, then."

-o-

Half an hour later, the pair was walking through the doors of a local supermarket. Taichi grabbed a trolley, saying that they should put Yamato's cooking skill to good use and buy lots of fresh ingredients.

"Hey, Yamato." Taichi realised that it was the first time he'd used the Angel's name. He liked it. "If you were supposed to go to France, how is it that you can speak and read Japanese? Put that down, it doesn't taste good."

"Oh," Yamato answered, putting down the horseradish he had been inspecting. "Angels speak a universal language. We start losing the ability to speak other languages after a few weeks."

"I see. Meat is this way." Taichi pushed off to the right.

Yamato spent most of the shopping trip exploring the different foods on offer, commenting about how they differed from those in Heaven.

"Everything here looks just like in the textbooks!"

Taichi chuckled at the blond's childishness, though he was careful of what he let Yamato say. Some of the other patrons were giving them weird looks.

"I'm glad you're enjoying your first visit to Japan." Taichi said, unnecessarily loudly.

Yamato gave him a confused look, but the other patrons smiled at the pair. One woman even stopped to compliment Yamato on his Japanese fluency.

"Sorry." Taichi muttered, sticking himself close to Yamato's side as they went through packets of meat. "But we don't have a lot of Angels visiting…"

"Oh, right!" Yamato put a hand to his forehead. "First I miss France, landing on my ass, talk to the wrong guy, revealing I'm an Angel, and now this. I'm turning into such a klutz."

Taichi laughed, slapping a hand onto Yamato's shoulder. "That makes for a nice change; usually it's me that's the klutz." He placed a few packets of meat into the trolley, pushing towards the checkout. Yamato tried to contain his excitement at seeing the checkout process he had learned about in textbooks played out in front of him. Right before his eyes.

The pair shared the groceries between themselves and started making their way home.

"So, can I ask more about God?"

"Sure." Yamato shrugged.

"Who exactly is he, then, if he doesn't listen to Humans' prayers?"

"He's like our Prime Minister, or President, or King, or Queen, or whatever main country person you have here."

Taichi stopped, staring with his mouth agape. He really needed to stop standing on the streets, looking like an idiot.

"But he's been the same person since the beginning of time, right? Wait, how old are you? In human years."

Yamato gave Taichi an amused look, jerking his head to get Taichi moving again. "No, we elect a new God every six years. The same one can serve only three terms in a row. I'm 29 in Angel and Human years. Our life spans are about the same as Humans' if we choose to join you on Earth. If we stay in Heaven, then we can live to be about twice what Humans can."

Taichi entered the code to his apartment complex and held the door for Yamato to pass. Since they had groceries weighing in their hands, they boarded the lift, taking it up to the fourth floor.

"But Yamato…" Taichi led the way to the kitchen, starting to unpack his bags, Yamato following suit. "Why would you want to come to Earth if your lifespan will shorten? And what about your wings? You lost them, right?"

"Wings?" Yamato stopped trying to figure out where to put the canned goods. "What wings?"

"You mean Angels don't have wings?!" Taichi slammed his hands on the table, staring wide-eyed at Yamato. He should really be getting used to his beliefs about Angels being wrong by now.

The blond edged away slightly, trying to contain his chuckles. "No, we don't have wings." Then he leaned forward, tilting slightly to the left, asking: "Is this really what Humans think of us?"

"Wait." Taichi rolled his eyes, dashing to his room. He returned a minute later. "I just turned on my computer. I'll show you pictures of how we imagine Angels."

They finished putting all the items away, Taichi showing Yamato where everything was in his—now _their_ —kitchen. Then they made their way to Taichi's room—which, Taichi realised, he had to start calling _their_ room.

"Uh, you're okay sharing a bed, right? I don't exactly have a spare and the couch is too small…"

Yamato cast a quick glance at the large double bed. Then his eyes returned to Taichi, whom had taken a seat at the computer.

"It's fine. Your bed is big enough for two. Sorry for the inconvenience."

"Nah," Taichi waved the apology aside. "It's not a problem at all. I actually really enjoy learning more about Angels and you." He grinned at Yamato, who returned the grin.

"So these pictures?"

"Right." Taichi signed in and double-clicked the browser open. "Here."

On screen was a picture of a stereotypical Angel: beautiful young maiden in a white robe, with large, white wings.

Yamato moved closer to the screen, eyeing the picture for a second. Then he burst out laughing.

"Oh, man." He wiped away a stray tear. "Sorry to disappoint you." He looked at the picture again, giggling. "I'm really sorry if that's what you were expecting."

"To be fair, I wasn't expecting an Angel at all. So it wasn't really a disappointment." Taichi, too took another look at the picture, then at Yamato. "Besides, I think I prefer you. And, like, the fact that Angels and Heaven are nothing like what I've thought. It's more interesting this way."

Yamato pulled away, a smile on his face. "I'm glad. Shall I get started on dinner?"

"Oh, yeah, please!"

Nodding, Yamato made his way out of the room, leaving Taichi to shut his computer down. The blond made his way to the kitchen, but stopped, biting his lower lip.

"What do you want for dinner?" Yamato asked, turning to Taichi, who had just entered the kitchen.

"Um," Taichi walked over to the fridge, inspecting the meats they had bought. "We could have pork tonight. Haven't had that in a while." He pulled said packet of meat out, frowning as he walked to the chopping board, placing the meat down. "You know how to cook Human food, right?"

Yamato chuckled, looking around in search of something. "Yeah, we have vegetables and meat and rice in Heaven. Our vegetables and animals just look slightly different and are called different things. Do you have an apron I could use?"

"Apron? No, I don't use one."

"Oh." Yamato looked down at his white shirt, frowning, but shrugged, pulling out the chopping board and knife.

"I just realised:" Taichi noted, watching Yamato pull out the accompanying vegetables. "You don't have a change of clothes."

Vegetables in hand, Yamato walked back to the kitchen counter, where he had left his chopping board. Taichi moved to stand further back, by the island countertop. Yamato's sleeves were already rolled up, and since there was no apron to don, he got started.

"I can lend you some, but we should go buy you new ones tomorrow. I won't have to go to work, so I can take you out shopping."

Yamato's hands stumbled with the carrots he was julienning. "That's alright; I don't want to impose so much. I would have had clothes, but they went to France." He frowned at the cupboard in front of his face. "Makes me wonder what they did with the house and my things… Anyway, I should really start looking for work."

"Nah," Taichi waved a hand, brushing off Yamato's worries. "You can start looking for work when I go back to my job on Monday. For now, I'll look after you and buy you anything you need."

Yamato blushed, moving onto the peppers. "That's very kind of you. I'll pay you b—"

"There's really no need." Taichi stepped up behind Yamato, looking over the blond's shoulder. "You promised to cook and clean, so that's enough." He patted Yamato on the shoulder before moving to sit on the other side of the island on a stool.

The redness didn't fade from Yamato's face until dinner was over and he started on washing the dishes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Digimon.

 **A/N:** Sorry for the wait, but I did warn you :P

I'm using an OC instead of one of the many Digimon characters because of reasons. There was going to be a guest appearance by Hiroaki, but that won't be until the next chapter (the length kind of got away from me).

-o-o-o-o-o-

The next morning, Yamato was woken by a tapping at the window. He groaned lightly and rolled over, turning to face Taichi. His eyes shifted from the sleeping brunet's face to the window behind the headboard of the bed. The curtains were drawn, so he couldn't see the noisy offender, though he knew it would be a messenger sparrow.

With a sigh, Yamato carefully moved to the foot of the bed, so he wouldn't have to climb over Taichi to get out. Stretching, he pulled back the curtain just a bit, so as not to disturb the brunet, and motioned for the tiny bird to meet him at the living room window.

Taichi's room was connected directly to the living room, which was connected to the kitchen, separated by the table the two had eaten at last night.

The sun had already risen, though it was still very early, as far as Yamato could tell. Taichi didn't seem to be a fan of having anything on the walls—not even something as practical as a wall clock.

What had been light tapping just seconds ago, intensified suddenly.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Yamato mumbled, moving to the small balcony doors. He drew back the curtains and slid the glass door partially open. The sparrow waited outside politely; it had not been invited in.

Yamato extended his hand and a small device fell from the sparrow's beak into his palm. With a sigh, he put what looked like the earpiece of headphones into his ear.

"Yamato," the message began, "we're sending a Communications Agent to your location. Make sure no humans are around. The CA will bring some of your things and give you some additional information. After that, you are on your own. We apologise for any inconvenience caused on our end."

Yamato removed the earpiece, handing it back to the sparrow, thanking it, then watched as it took off. He ran his hands up his face, starting at his chin and ending with his fingers gripping at his hair.

He looked down at the loose light grey cotton shorts and matching t-shirt he was wearing. Yamato frowned, throwing a quick glance at some non-existent clock on the wall. He should probably get changed, especially if the CA was—

"Yamato." Came a salacious drawl from the still partially open balcony door.

A tall, short-haired brunet stepped in through the balcony doors. He was clad in a suit and looked down his nose at Yamato.

"Speak of the Devil..." Yamato muttered under his breath.

The man laughed in reply, freshly polished shoes stepping confidently over the wooden floor. Hazel eyes regarded their surroundings, seemingly bored.

"Managed to get a roof over your head, I see."

Yamato's blue eyes narrowed and his pale arms crossed over his chest. "Don't you have actual business with me? You know: professional stuff to sort."

The man turned his half-lidded eyes to Yamato. "Now, now, Yamato; don't you even want to exchange pleasantries?" A corner of his mouth turned up slightly. "After all, we were suppo—"

"Drop it." Yamato gritted out, keeping his voice low so as not to wake Taichi up. Yamato still didn't know what time it was. "Just give me my stuff, tell me what I need to know, and get the fuck out of my new life."

A sharp huff of air left the man's mouth, then he turned to look outside at some cardboard boxes. "Those are the things that we managed to gather from your _intended_ location."

Hazel eyes met blue. Yamato's hands balled into fists at his sides, but he bit his tongue.

The man's eyes travelled slowly down Yamato's body, then back up. "Your bank account is set up in France, so you'll need to transfer the money to a local account. Here," out of a pocket, he pulled an envelope. "Are the details of the French account. You'll need them."

Yamato uncurled his right fist, taking a few stiff steps towards the other. He reached out for the envelope, only to have it snatched out of his reach.

"What?" The man mocked. "No 'thank you'?"

Yamato kept his hand outstretched, gritting out a: "Thank you." The envelope was placed into his hand, the paper crumpling as the hand returned to Yamato's side. "Now, if that is all, then please leave."

The man smirked. "Not quite done yet, my dear." He reached into another pocket, pulling out a small burgundy booklet. "Your passport, Mr. Ishida."

"Ishida? I thought it was supposed to be Desrochers?"

"Well you _were_ supposed to go to France. Now your background information says that you're Japanese and just lived in France for years."

"Thank you." Yamato enunciated, extending his hand. "If _that_ is all?"

"Yes, I think that _is_ all. For now. Though, I may still pay you a visit in the future."

"No thank you." Yamato motioned towards the door.

"Who are you?" A new voice joined the conversation and Yamato's head whipped around. No, no, no, no, no, no; Taichi wasn't supposed to be here.

"Well!" The stranger said loudly, leer flicking from Yamato to Taichi and back again. "Who might this be, huh? You sure moved on quickly! Already in the bed of another man—a _hu_ man, no less."

"Get. Out." Yamato gritted out, mindful of not breaking his passport with the tightness of his grip.

Completely ignoring Yamato's orders, the man took a few steps further into the apartment, towards Taichi, whom was standing—confused—at the door of his room.

Yamato stepped in between the two brunets, now-empty hands shoving the Communications Agent. "Get the fuck out now, Anton!"

Startled, but barely showing it, Anton dropped back slightly. "Fine, fine." He threw a glance at Taichi, over Yamato's head. "It was a pleasure to meet you." His hazel eyes dropped to Yamato. "It's a shame we had to cut this reunion short." He bent into a bow, taking one of Yamato's hands, raising the back of the palm towards his mouth—only Yamato yanked his hand back.

"Out."

This time, Anton listened to the order and left, disappearing once outside.

Yamato's breath came in deep pants, body trembling slightly. He avoided looking at Taichi by busying himself with picking up the dropped passport and envelope.

"Ya—"

"Sorry. Sorry about that. I didn't mean—you weren't supposed—I'm sorry."

Taichi edged into the room, keeping an eye on Yamato's turned back. "I—who was that?"

"That was no one. Anton, actually. But no one, really. Just no one." Yamato finally turned around, a sad smile on his face. "He's no one, Taichi."

Taichi spent the next few minutes of silence staring at Yamato sceptically. The blond was staring at the floor, trying to shove too-short hair behind his ear; the strands always fell back over his left eye.

"He's," Yamato started, voice wavering lightly. He licked his lips. "He's a Communications Agent. They can travel back and forth between Heaven and Earth and sort out all the official stuff for those of us that move to Earth."

Taichi moved further into the living room, sitting down on the couch. He patted the seat next to him, which Yamato took hesitantly.

"So he was the one supposed to help you get settled in France?" Taichi recalled Yamato having mentioned that there was supposed to be an Angel that looked like Taichi receiving him on the French end. Taichi wasn't sure he looked anything like this Anton, but if Yamato thought so…

"No, that wasn't him. I wasn't supposed to have anything to do with Anton ever again." Yamato's tone was bitter, but then he realised what he'd said and doubled back: "I mean, we're not supposed to deal with anyone but our assigned mentor-Angel once we move to Earth, so… It was just surprising that they sent—well, they sent my stuff over from France, so we don't need to buy that much." Yamato's tone was light, but his eyes didn't match. He waved the envelope. "I can also transfer my money from the French account to here, so that's also not a problem anymore."

Taichi frowned; he didn't like this Anton and he didn't like Yamato avoiding the topic. But since he was not going to force Yamato to talk, he'd play along. "Banks are closed today, so you won't be able to sort that until Monday."

"Oh." Yamato's face fell; he had been hoping that with this new turn of events, he wouldn't be as much of a burden on Taichi.

Taichi stood from the couch, stretching. "Remind me to show you which bank to go to, to get that stuff done. I have to go to work on Monday, so I won't be able to show you then. Breakfast?"

Yamato, about to question their need to head into town, hastened to change his words: "Ah, I'll make it." Yamato got up and headed into the kitchen. "What do you want?"

"Eggs and rice? I'm not very picky about breakfast." Taichi said, following Yamato and taking a seat at the kitchen table. He grabbed a notepad and pen from the end of the table, tapping the pen against the paper. "We should start forming a shopping list of the things you need. Toothbrush and…" He tapped the pen again, before scribbling furiously. "We need to get you chopsticks and your own bowl and mug and that apron you were after."

"Ah, Taichi…" Finished with putting the rice into the cooker, Yamato walked closer to peek over Taichi's shoulder. "I can get a lot of those things myself when I get my bank account sorted. I'll manage for a few days."

"Nonsense!" Taichi exclaimed, his scribbling getting more frantic. "You'll need everything! This will be fun."

"Taichi!"

The brunet paused, blinking over his shoulder, then looking at the crammed-full notepad. "Well…" He scratched the back of his neck. "Maybe I'll cross out a few of the things; I guess you really don't need an ear pick right away…"

Yamato rolled his eyes and moved back to the kitchen counter, starting to work on the eggs.

Taichi leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms over his head and giving a huge yawn. "You were up early." He commented, turning to sit sideways on the chair.

"What time is it?" Yamato returned.

Taichi glanced at the microwave, but then got up and went to their room. He returned less than a minute later, phone in hand. "Seven forty. The microwave clock is wrong all the time." He explained, gesturing to the electronic device.

Yamato's eyes found the small screen and noted that it did, in fact, read well past noon. "Oh." Yamato made a mental note to buy Taichi a wall clock once he got his money.

"So?" Taichi prompted.

"So what?" Yamato had his back turned to Taichi, busy with the omelette he was making.

"So why were you up so early? Did that guy wake you?"

"No, he didn't; the messenger sparrow did."

There was silence as Yamato served up the food and sat across from the gaping Taichi at the table.

"The what now?" Taichi asked, ignoring his food.

Yamato—who had been about to dig in—looked up, blinking. "One of the messenger sparrows."

Taichi stared.

Yamato let out a sigh. "You don't use sparrows to communicate, do you?"

"Well," Taichi started slowly, "we—or some cultures and nations—used to use messenger pigeons, but that's really outdated now; we mostly use phones or email or human-delivered post."

"Oh, we do too." Yamato announced, taking a bite out of his food. "Those forms just don't work for inter-dimensional communication, so we use birds. Birds are able to move from one dimension to another quite effortlessly—quite a few animals can, actually; though not domesticated ones. We started using sparrows because they can be found nearly worldwide." Yamato took another bite, swallowing it before adding: "Parrots are bitches, just for the record; never use one for inter-dimensional communication."

"…okay… I'll keep that in mind."

Yamato smiled, returning to his food, and Taichi followed suit.

"Wait." Taichi paused his eating again, looking at Yamato enquiringly. "Yesterday you said that the Travel people—Angles—contacted you. Was that by sparrow, too?" Yamato nodded. "Oh."

The men returned to their food.

After the dishes were washed and dried, Taichi insisted on going through Yamato's things.

"It's just mainly clothes…" Yamato stated, following Taichi back into the living room. "There's nothing to really go through."

Taichi grinned, opening the door to the small balcony. "All the more reason for me to go through them and see what we need to buy." He grabbed the first box and passed it off to Yamato, who placed it on the floor in front of the couch.

When all four boxes were in, Taichi plopped down on the floor, opening the first. It was full of clothes, as Yamato had said, but Taichi was still intrigued; did Angel clothes differ from Human ones in terms of material or style?

Well, not as far as Taichi could tell. The clothes he pulled out seemed to be made of the same, or similar, materials to Taichi's own, and the style was the same as Taichi had seen in stores. It was different to Taichi's own style, but the clothes would probably suit Yamato.

The first box had contained regular, every-day clothes, but the second box seemed to have thicker clothing.

"Are winters cold in France?" Taichi asked, eyeing the blue down jacket he had pulled out.

"That depends on how you define cold. That coat was more for going skiing in the mountains."

"You ski?" Taichi asked, surprised, dropping the clothes in favour of this new bit of information.

Yamato shrugged, shifting some of his clothing onto the couch. "Yeah, I did quite a few different sports and other ctivities—anything, really, to keep me away from hom—" Yamato clammed up, face reddening, and he hastened to stand and start folding the couched clothes.

Taichi frowned, but let the matter drop for now. It wasn't his business to push when Yamato clearly wanted to avoid the topic.

After pulling out a pair of thick, skiing trousers, Taichi was over half-way through the second box. He grinned at what was on the bottom, sticking his hand in and pulling out—

"Oi!" Yamato exclaimed, darting towards Taichi, trying to snatch at the item in Taichi's hand.

"What? I want to know if Angel underwear is the same as Human underwear."

"That's not—it's not—it's unnecess—it's—Taichi! It's the same!" Yamato dived over the box, blocking Taichi from reaching for more.

The brunet was laughing his head off at Yamato's embarrassment, tossing the pair of white briefs on top of the pile on the couch.

Yamato was kneeling on the floor, upper body shielding the contents of the box from Taichi's inquisitive hands. The blond took deep breaths, trying to gain control of the colour of his face, though that took a few minutes. Once his face had resumed its paleness, Yamato glared at Taichi out of the corner of his eye. "Pervert."

"And proud of it." Taichi informed him, voice low and teasing. Blue eyes rolled and Taichi laughed, poking Yamato in the side. "Come on, let's continue or the day will be over before we've even gotten out."

Huffily, Yamato picked up the underwear box, moving it to the other side of the living room, by the TV.

Taichi laughed again, attacking the third cardboard box. In it, were shoes, including winter boots. Taichi picked one up, turning it this way and that, inspecting it. "I think our feet are about the same size."

Yamato eyed him wearily. "Your point being?"

"Nothing;" Taichi shrugged, "just making an observation."

Yamato let out an acknowledging sound, sneaking the stray briefs from the couch pile and moving to deposit them into the box by the TV.

"So what other sports do you play?" Taichi chose to ignore Yamato's obvious sneaking.

Yamato returned to sit on the couch and resumed folding the pile of clothes. "Swimming was my favourite; I wasn't too into team sports… And they're different from what you have here on Earth, anyway."

"Hn." Taichi, having gotten bored of the shoes, pulled the last box towards him. It was smaller, but heavier than the others. "Let's see what we have in here."

Yamato turned his attention away from the folding, to monitor Taichi; he'd already had enough embarrassment for today, thank you very much.

Taichi frowned at the contents. "Are these your school books?"

"What?" Yamato mimicked the frown, still on the couch. "They can't be; we're not allowed to bring books and such things over to Earth—our languages are different and it would be too hard to explain."

Taichi pulled out a notebook.

"Oh!" Yamato stood abruptly and took two steps to reach Taichi and take the notebook from his hand. "These are my music notebooks. I didn't know I was allowed them."

"Didn't you pack these boxes yourself?"

Yamato shook his head, flipping through the notebook. "There's a set of movers that make sure we're not bringing anything illegal here."

"Illegal?" Taichi was staring up at Yamato in confusion, the rest of the box's contents forgotten.

Yamato nodded, dropping the notebook back into the box and kneeling next to it. "Yeah, it's illegal to bring texts, plants, animals, or technology here. It's all too different and would be hard to explain. We're supposed to blend in as much as possible."

"Huh." Taichi sat back and watched as Yamato dug through the small box. "What?" Taichi asked as a gentle smile graced Yamato's face.

"They let me have my harmonica." Yamato said quietly, caressing a small white and gold instrument.

A reciprocal smile crossed Taichi's face and he cocked his head. "So you play?" Then he remembered what Yamato had said about the notebooks. "And compose songs, too?"

Blue eyes lifted from the harmonica to lock with brown ones. "Yeah, I started with the harmonica then moved to other instruments the school kept—there were plenty, so I can play pretty much anything these days."

"Another attempt to stay away from home?" Taichi enquired, going back on his decision to let Yamato off the hook on that one.

Yamato's eyes widened then fell back to the harmonica. He stroked the instrument lightly with two fingers before lifting it to his mouth and blowing a few notes. "Yeah." He admitted, harmonica still close enough to his mouth to have given off a soft sound with the exhale of the word. He lowered the harmonica to his lap. "I didn't exactly get along with my mother, so I tried not to burden her with my presence too much."

Taichi, coming from a loving family himself, didn't fully understand how a son could burden his own mother with his presence, but the answer was satisfying enough for now.

"Right." Taichi said, standing and dusting himself off. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. "We should probably start heading into town; it'll be less crowded in the morning."

Yamato nodded, grabbing a pair of black jeans and a white t-shirt. He hesitated, looking around at his unpacked items, then up at Taichi. "Do you mind if I have a quick shower first?"

Taichi shook his head, brown hair flopping about. His eyes, too, flickered around the stuff. "I'll give you a towel."

"Thanks."

Half an hour later, the men were ready to head out. Taichi had thrown on a bright blue t-shirt and brown cargo trousers. He stepped into his dark trainers as Yamato pulled on a thin, navy cardigan. Taichi double-checked for his keys and they were out.

"It's usually best to walk to the city." Taichi explained as they stepped out of the apartment complex and into the warm summer morning. "It's only about half an hour of walking and walking is always going to be less of a hassle than buses. Not that the buses aren't clean and on time, but they're usually really crowded and take 15-20 minutes anyway."

"That's fine." Yamato nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking up at the bright blue sky. "I like walking. It's the most common way to get around the cities in Heaven, too."

Taichi turned his head to inspect Yamato. "What's it like, really? Is Heaven like Earth millions of light years away, or is it a city on the edge of a cloud in our stratosphere, or…?" Taichi trailed off as Yamato gave a laugh.

"It's—" Yamato paused, lips pursed. "I'm not too familiar with the theory—we don't _know_ , really—but the theory is that…" Yamato's head snapped to face Taichi. "Do you know about—I mean, do Humans have a theory of parallel universes or something like that."

"Yes!" Taichi slammed his fist into his open palm. "Is that how it works? So Heaven exists in parallel with Earth? Like in the same space or something."

Yamato ducked his head, trying to hide his amusement at Taichi's enthusiasm. "That's the theory. Earth and Heaven exist on planets that are about the same size, though Heaven's population is about half of Earth's—actually, even less, I think."

Taichi hummed in interest, turning his attention back to the road in front of them. "That's pretty cool." He glanced at Yamato again. "How come Angels haven't gotten in touch with physicists form Earth?"

"Oh, I'm sure they have." Yamato shrugged. "It's just that we don't understand this any better than you do."

"But you can move from one dimension to the other! You did and that Anton-guy did!"

Yamato made a face at the other Angel's name, but didn't comment on it. "Yeah, but we have a portal. We don't know how it works or who built it or even when, but it's there for us to use."

Taichi frowned at his feet. "Aren't you scared of using it?"

Yamato just shrugged, eyes following a bird flying overhead.

The men were coming up to the outskirts of the city centre. Shops were starting to appear on the sides of the streets and a bus rumbled past.

The few minutes of silence were broken by Taichi, as he looked up into the heavens above. "I can kind of understand, though. About you and others like you wanting to come live on Earth. I think, if Humans knew about the existence of another dimension—another world—some of us would want to go live there. It'd be like an adventure; a bit like moving to a completely new country, but bigger." Taichi grinned at his thoughts. "It would be a whole new world to explore and there's such potential to meet so many new, interesting people." The grin turned to a sad smile. "Thinking about it like this, I really envy you, Yamato."

Silence.

"Yamato?"

Taichi's eyes scanned the street behind, to the left, and to the right of him. Nothing. Taichi's heart started hammering inside his chest. He looked around again, spinning about himself. Nothing. _Where was Yamato?_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

-o-

A/N: Thank you for all the feedback and, as always, sorry for it taking so long to get these chapters out :/

-o-o-o-o-o-

Yamato's eyes were drawn to the shops that were appearing on either side of the street as the pair neared the city centre. Taichi walked beside him, quiet for the time being, allowing Yamato's eyes and mind to wander.

Sleek, mahogany wood in the window of a small, squeezed-in store caught Yamato's attention and he slowed his pace. Taichi had started speaking again, but Yamato ignored him, mumbling a quick: "Let's go in here." Before dashing into the music store.

As its outside appearance had indicated, the store was indeed quite small. Various instruments were crammed in wherever they fit, whilst still leaving plenty of room to walk around. A large, black piano stood in a back corner, surrounded by a few music stands and assorted stringed instruments on stools.

Yamato's head turned to look over his shoulder at the large cello that had caught his attention in the first place.

"Can I help you?" Asked a gentle, though ragged, voice from the other end of the shop, near the electric guitars and basses.

Yamato's eyes turned to the man; he was tall and quite broad at the shoulders, with short chestnut hair. He wore a faded-from-age-blue button up and brown trousers. He looked kind.

The man raised his eyebrows and Yamato started, blushing upon realising that he had been asked a question—one he had yet to answer. "Ah, no, I just saw the store and was curious. I like music, so I thought I'd come in for a look. I'm not really looking to buy anything, though. At least not quite yet."

The man smiled, walking over to the blond. "What kind of music are you into? Mind you, I only sell instruments and classic rock vinyls—mostly from years you weren't even born in yet." His laugh was hearty and brought a broad smile to Yamato's face.

"I'm not really sure about music form this wor—I mean, from here." Yamato's blush returned at the near-slip. "I lived abroad—in France—for most of my life, so I don't know Japanese music that well. I mainly like to play instruments, anyway, so…"

The store owner's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, well that's good; as you can tell, I specialise in instruments, rather than vinyls. Are you in a band? You look like you would be popular if you were. I used to have a band back in high school—I played the guitar and sang some backup vocals." The man let out a sigh as his dark eyes travelled up. "Those were the days…"

"I'm actually not currently in one."

"Oh, right, of course not; you just moved here!" The man laughed again, then regarded Yamato. "Did you bring any of your instruments back from France?"

"Well… I have a harmonica. That I brought with me. But I've never owned other instruments; I just played them after school." Yamato rubbed at his arm, looking at the floor. He jerked his head towards the display window. "I really like the cello, though; it has a nice sound."

A wide smile graced the elder man's features. "Come on, then; I'll let you play. I'm no good on a cello, so it'll be nice to hear someone play it properly."

Yamato's eyes snapped to the man and followed his movements, as he stepped up to the window's platform, lifting the cello off its stand. "Here." He held the instrument by the neck, hand extended towards Yamato.

With a small smile, Yamato pulled up a stool and took the offered cello. He positioned the instrument between his legs, poising the fingers and the bow over the strings.

"I. Have. Been. Looking. _Everywhere_! For you."

Yamato and the owner both looked to the entrance of the shop. There stood Taichi; huffing, face slightly red, eyes narrowed. He stormed in, walking up to the sitting Yamato. He stopped in front of the blond, hands on his hips.

"What's with the disappearing act? Do you have any idea how long it took to find you?"

Yamato's eyes narrowed. "I _told_ you I was popping in here."

"No you didn't; you just disappeared."

"I did tell you!" Yamato stood, making sure not to grip the cello's neck too tightly. "I said I'd be coming in here."

Taichi hesitated, but didn't back down: "Well, I didn't hear you."

"If you'd just _listen_ to me, then maybe you'd hear me."

"Maybe _you_ should speak up."

"I am speaking up!"

The argument was interrupted by booming laughter. The young men blushed, looking at the owner of the store, who was clutching his stomach with one hand and wiping at the corner of his eye with the other.

"Oh, don't let me stop you; you were just getting started." The eldest gave another a bark of laughter.

"Sorry." The other two mumbled, staring at the floor.

Awkwardly, and whilst waiting for the owner to calm down, Yamato sat back down and started drawing the bow over the strings. He winced as an off-tune sound came out. A quick turn of the pegs had the cello producing a mellow tune that filled the small shop.

After a few minutes, Yamato stilled the bow. Clapping made him look up from the instsrument in alarm; he had forgotten he had an audience.

"That was nice." Taichi commented.

"It sure was." The owner affirmed. Though, after a pause, a slight frown marred his face. "I didn't recognise the piece."

"It's probably one of his own compositions." Taichi noted, eyes still on Yamato and the cello. "Yamato writes his own music."

"Really?" The owner looked intrigued. "You said you're not in a band, but do you write music for other bands or orchestras?"

"Ah, no." Yamato replied awkwardly, moving to put the cello back on its stand.

"Are you studying music?"

"No, I've actually only just graduated."

"But from music studies?"

"No, I did some business as my first degree, then another degree in social sciences—cultural relations." Yamato and Taichi exchanged smirks at the last part.

"Oh." The owner seemed disappointed.

"Um," Taichi said, glancing from Yamato to the owner. "Sorry, but we actually have some stuff to take care of…"

"Right, right." The owner waved off Taichi's apology. "Sorry to have kept you."

"Would you mind if I came back some day, when I have more time?" Yamato asked, following Taichi to the exit.

The owner smiled, clapping a large hand onto the Angel's slight shoulder. "I'd be disappointed if I didn't hear you play more of your pieces with my instruments."

"Thank you." Yamato smiled as he stepped out of the door with Taichi.

"So now that that detour's out of the way." Taichi said after they'd made it a few steps down the street.

Yamato rolled his eyes. "I did tell you."

"Regardless." Taichi stated, glancing at Yamato. "And don't roll your eyes; they'll get stuck that way."

"Really? That can happen to you? Like, Humans' eyes get stuck in their heads if you roll them?" Yamato's face matched his tone: somewhere between incredulity and disgust.

Taichi let out a long breath, grabbing Yamato's wrist and pulling him down a street on their left. "Not literally, but that's what my mother would always say to make me stop rolling my eyes."

"Did it work?"

"…no."

Yamato quirked an eyebrow.

"Fine, bad example, but you still shouldn't roll your eyes at me."

Yamato chuckled, with Taichi joining in after a second's delay.

"Here." Taichi yanked on Yamato's wrist—still in his hold—stopping the blond in front of a tall building. "Mizuho Bank. Get your account sorted here on Monday."

Yamato looked around at the other tall buildings. "Um, okay, if I can find it again."

"Oh, don't worry." Taichi pulled Yamato along the road for a bit before letting his wrist go. "I'll bring you here, so you won't get lost. But you'll have to find your way back home—which I'll show you when we're ready to leave. Speaking of, I should get you a copy of my key, so you can let yourself in. The locksmith's over this way." With that, Taichi was again grabbing the paler wrist and pulling the Angel down a street.

Yamato decided not to worry about trying to orientate himself in this city just yet. For today, he'd let Taichi drag him around. Maybe he'd spend some time on Monday exploring and learning the layout of the city.

The locksmith's was just opening and the locksmith himself held the door open for the customers, inviting them in with a smile. Taichi exchanged a few words with the man, handing over his apartment key. With a nod, the locksmith disappeared into the back of the store. He returned not five minutes later, two identical keys in hand.

"Your metal is malleable to this extent?" Yamato was whispering in an excited manner as the pair left the store. "Don't your keys get bent out of shape or something during the day? I mean, if you can cut it into shape so quickly, then wouldn't someone be able to cut it out of shape just as quickly?"

Taichi continued leading the way into town, biting at his lips to keep his smile from splitting his entire face. "Well," he started, "you do need special equipment to be able to work with the metal. And the equipment isn't something people have normally. I'm not entirely sure how locksmiths do it, but I can look it up for you when we get home, if you want."

"Would you?" Yamato's blue eyes were wide open as he asked. "That would be really interesting; our metals are really sturdy and need days, if not weeks, to mould into something."

Taichi shook his head in amusement, making a mental note to look it up once they got back home. Having the Angel around was really forcing Taichi to learn more about the world he lived in and about things he took for granted. He turned them down the main street.

"Did you really study business?" Taichi asked, recalling the conversation they'd had with the music store's owner.

"Of course." Yamato replied, distracted by yet another store window, though this time selling miscellaneous trinkets. Taichi grabbed his hand to make sure he wouldn't disappear again and Yamato's attention returned to the brunet. "Do you think I'm 29 with only one degree?"

"….I'm 30 with only one degree." Taichi noted awkwardly.

"Well you're Human."

Taichi wasn't sure whether he should be offended and it must have shown on his face as Yamato let out a laugh. They entered an electronics store.

"I only mean that you didn't have to do a second degree in how to integrate into another culture. I took business so that I could get a job here without arousing suspicions." Then, as more of an afterthought, he added: "Numbers work the same in both worlds."

Taichi didn't really know what else to say, so he went with: "We didn't really discuss what kind of phone to get you, so how about the same one I have? It's a Sony Xperia Z3 compact. It's quite popular around Japan. A techno-wise friend I have recommended it and I haven't had problems."

Having no idea what Taichi was talking about, Yamato agreed. "That sounds good. What's that?" Yamato pointed to a small, thin rectangular device.

Taichi gave him a funny look. "That's a phone. We're getting you one of those."

" _That's_ a phone?!" Blue eyes stared at the small device in amazement.

"Uh, yeah?"

Yamato suddenly relaxed, looking nonchalant. "Oh. Okay."

Taichi eyed Yamato warily for a few seconds before scanning his surroundings for a salesperson. "Excuse me!" He called upon spotting one.

"Yes, sir? What can I help you with?"

"Could we get one of these phones, please?" Taichi pointed to the Sony on display. Yamato studied the description, letting Taichi handle the exchange.

"Certainly." With a nod, the salesman kneeled and opened a cupboard under the display phones. He reached in, but paused. "Which colour, sir?"

"Bla—"

"The bright green-ish one." Yamato jumped in, interrupting Taichi.

Bewildered, the salesman looked from one male to the other. Taichi shrugged. "What he said."

Soon the Angel and Human were leaving the electronics store and heading towards a nearby department store for other miscellaneous items.

"Why not black?" Taichi questioned as he watched Yamato cradle the box housing his new phone.

Yamato shrugged. "I don't really know. Normally, black would be better, but the turquoise one just caught my attention." He shrugged again, then grinned at Taichi. "It's different."

Taichi had no choice but to laugh; it _was_ different. He sobered up quickly, though, turning to Yamato with a frown. "What are phones like in Heaven?"

"They're just earpieces." Yamato's reply was quick, his attention caught by a toothpaste commercial rolling on a big screen.

"But how do you call someone or text them?" Taichi tugged on Yamato's arm to get the Angel to keep moving. They had to get done before rush hour.

The blond allowed himself to be pulled away from the screen—the toothpaste ad had ended anyway. "You just think it and that works as a command to the phone to make the call."

"'You just think it'?"

"Yeah, like you think: 'okay Phone, call Taichi' and it will."

"Advanced."

Now it was Yamato's turn to give Taichi an odd look. "Is it?"

"By our standards; we can't control technology with our minds."

"But you can mould metal in a matter of minutes. Now t _hat's_ advanced."

Taichi grinned awkwardly; he wasn't sure Yamato's argument was valid. Moulding metal wasn't nearly as cool as commanding technology with your mind. Then again, the Angel had proven to be amazed at the smallest, simplest things, so maybe the argument wasn't that farfetched… coming from Yamato. As if to prove Taichi's point, the blond was taking a great interest in a flock of pigeons walking around. Smiling, Taichi continued leading the way, making a mental note to take Yamato to the zoo at some point.

A few hours later, Taichi was hoisting his backpack onto his shoulders. The two males had gotten Yamato the necessities that he'd need over the weekend; namely toiletries and an apron. Yamato had insisted that he didn't need anything right now, so Taichi had just shown him the stores he'd need to visit later on.

"Ready to go home?" Taichi grinned, starting to walk to the department store's main doors. "There are a few things I should probably teach you about Japanese culture and how to behave and stuff. Just so you don't do anything really rude when you're here alone."

To be fair, Yamato had learned fast not to comment on items he found strange. Still, there were a few etiquette pointers Taichi could give. Yamato could get away with quite a lot, thanks to his foreign looks, but, since he would be staying in Japan, he should learn the unwritten rules of the society.

"Taichi!"

The Human and Angel looked at each other in confusion.

"Taichi!" A short rusty haired man came through the crowd.

"Taichi, I did think that was you." The newcomer said, walking up to the brunet. "I recognised you through the crowd and came over to say 'hello.'"

Taichi smiled warmly. "Hey, Koushiro. What brings you into town?"

"Oh, a hard-to-find part I need for the assembly of my processor can be found in here. I called earlier and asked. I was promised it would be put aside for me, but one can never really trust these game store employees." Dark eyes observed Yamato, then returned to Taichi. "Is he an acquaintance of yours?"

"Ah, yeah." Taichi suddenly turned slightly nervous. "This is Yamato, he's…" Taichi trailed off, casting Yamato a desperate, panicked look.

For a split second, Yamato mimicked the look, then relaxed his features and turned to the shortest male with a smile. "Yeah, hi, I'm Yamato Ishida. Uh, Taichi and my parents are old school friends, but I've lived abroad for quite a while. I've just moved back to Japan, so now Taichi's showing me around and getting me settled here."

"Showing you around sounds like something Taichi would do. My name's Koushiro Izumi. Taichi and I are old childhood friends and he has failed to mention you at any point in time."

"Ahaha," Taichi butted in, rubbing his neck. "Yamato didn't live in Odaiba and we didn't really get along back then." The brunet turned to Yamato with a warm smile. "But we became friends as we grew up."

Yamato returned the smile.

"Well." Koushiro interrupted and the other two turned their attention to him. "That certainly sounds like a good story. Taichi, are you still showing him around or would you, maybe, have time to grab a bit with me or something? You know, we could catch up? We haven't really run into each other that much recently…"

Taichi waved a hand through the air. "Nope, Yamato's staying at mine, so I'm going back with him. Rain check?" With that, Taichi grabbed Yamato's upper arm and moved towards the exit.

"Bye, Koushiro. It was nice to meet you." Yamato called back. There was no reply.

"Me and Koushiro were classmates back in junior and high school. We both ended up coming to Shinjuku after graduating from university. Of course, he did his Master's, so he came two years after me." Taichi explained, leading the way down the street.

"We're where? Shinku?" Yamato asked.

Taichi almost missed a step upon his realisation. "Right. You don't know anything about Japan's geography… Should probably add that to the list of things I need to teach you this weekend. And you should learn my—our—home address." Taichi grinned mischievously. "You know, in case you get lost and need to ask for directions."

Yamato stuck his tongue out at Taichi, but relented about a second later. "That might actually happen, you know." Yamato grinned, but then he lowered his eyes to the ground. "Sorry, by the way, for causing you so many problems."

Taichi threw an arm around Yamato's shoulders; half as reassurance, half as a way of steering the Angel through the crowd safely. The ward of Shinjuku was starting to wake up and it wouldn't do to lose sight of the Angel a second time.

"I keep telling you that it's not a problem; I like having you around."

Yamato replied with a half-smile. Taichi released his shoulders and the duo continued their way back to Taichi's—via Mizuho Bank, as promised, so Yamato could learn the way home.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

-o-

A/N: I've been really busy at work and I've started a kind of side-business, so I haven't had free time. Nonetheless, I managed to crank out a new chapter for you!

I'll be going to Japan at the beginning of March, so to anyone also reading 'Seven plus one' and waiting for an update: I probably won't be able to get a new chapter of that out until after I get back.

-o-o-o-

"Soooo? Who was he?" Asked an excited brunette, as a good-looking blond left Shinjuku's Mizuho Bank.

Taichi chuckled, leaning back in his chair, eyes on the closing door. He swivelled around, turning to tap at his computer's keyboard.

"Taichi!" The same female whined, getting out of her chair and marching over to the male. "You obviously know him. Now spill! He's hot."

Taichi stopped his tapping and ran a hand through his thick hair. His amused brown eyes turned to his co-worker. "He's a friend."

Honey-coloured eyes widened, flitting from the glass doors to Taichi. "A _friend_ you say? Does that, by any chance mean 'boyfriend?'" She poked Taichi's arm playfully.

"Hey." Taichi swatted her hand away, turning his chair again to face the woman. "No, I do not mean boyfriend, Mimi." He stuck his tongue out. "Now get back to work, or I'm telling Gennai."

Mimi stuck her tongue out as well, but the threat of their boss knowing she was fooling around made her return to her desk. The two colleagues worked in silence in the open office for a few minutes before it was broken by Mimi:

"I still think he's hot."

Taichi snorted into his keyboard.

Mimi flashed him a grin, then turned back to her computer screen. "Tell me all about him at lunch, okay?"

"Sure, sure." Taichi replied. "There's not much to tell, though…"

"Oh, quit it; you're not going to be able to avoid this conversation. He's lived in France and you know him even though you've never been to France. There _is_ something to tell."

Taichi gave Mimi a mischievous side-glance. "Are you eavesdropping on me and my client's conversations?"

Mimi scrunched up her nose, staring at her screen. "I wasn't eavesdropping; I just happened to hear some of what you said." Mimi turned to Taichi, propping her elbow on the table and resting her cheek in her palm. "His voice carries quite well since it's so deep, and you're just loud."

"…Get back to work. We'll talk more at lunch."

Mimi winked at him before returning to her earlier task.

-o-

Taichi grinned as the door of his apartment opened at his knock, revealing the blond Angel he was living with.

"Guess you found your way home alright." Taichi stepped into the apartment, closing the door behind him and kicking off his shoes.

Yamato rolled his eyes as he moved back into the living room he had come from. "Yeah, I found my way back. Eventually. I did get lost for a bit in the city…"

"Yeah? How so?" Taichi asked with a raised eyebrow, moving into the kitchen area for a drink. "Did you re-arrange the fridge?"

"Oh, yeah, your arrangement wasn't intuitive to me and, since I'll be doing most of the cooking, I decided to change it. You mind?"

"Nah." Taichi entered the living room, glass of iced tea in hand. He flopped down on the couch next to Yamato. "So about this getting lost?"

"Right." Yamato mumbled, eyes on a book. "I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up on the street with Hiroaki's store, so I decided—"

"Who's what?" Taichi interrupted.

Yamato turned his eyes up, realising they hadn't introduced themselves the last time. "Hiroaki—the man with the music store."

Taichi's eyes widened briefly in recognition. "Oh, right. Him."

"Yeah, so I went in there again and we talked for a while and he lent me a few books on Japan's history." Yamato raised the book he was holding in indication. "You know, since I lived abroad and didn't get to learn about it in school." Yamato's eyes held a teasing spark in them.

Taichi chuckled, glancing at the book in Yamato's lap. "Speaking of, I told a colleague of mine about our living arrangement—you saw her; the woman with the long, light brown hair?"

Yamato nodded, recalling the woman from the bank Taichi worked at.

"She thinks you're hot." Taichi grinned as a light blush rose on Yamato's cheeks and his blue eyes flew to the ground.

"Uh…"

Laughing openly, Taichi placed a hand on the Angel's shoulder. "Don't worry, it's just an observation; she's with someone right now—another woman, actually. She does swing both ways, but she's devoted to her girlfriend, so you don't have to worry about Mimi." Taichi finished with a wink.

"Right…" Yamato said tensely.

Still grinning from ear to ear, Taichi stood and grabbed his empty glass. "She hinted at wanting to meet you properly." Taichi raised his voice as he walked into the kitchen half of the main living quarters. "Would you like to? She's a bit eccentric and bubbly, but overall a lovely woman."

"Well…" Yamato hedged.

Taichi returned, glancing at the blank TV. "You bought a wall clock."

"Huh?" Yamato, whom had been lost in his thoughts, looked up at Taichi, then at the shelf the TV was sitting on. "Oh, yeah, I noticed you didn't have a clock anywhere, so I bought one. I hate not knowing what time it is." Yamato eyed Taichi from the corner of his eye. "It has a leg, so that it can also just stand on a table. I wasn't sure if you'd want it on the wall."

Taichi stood by the couch, eyeing the walls around them. "Which wall do you want it on?"

"It's okay?" Yamato asked, surprised, putting the book on the couch.

Taichi shrugged. "I don't see a problem with knowing the time." He grinned at the blond. "I might actually be on time for meeting friends and such if I see the time clearly."

Shaking his head in amusement, Yamato stood, moving to stand by Taichi. "I was thinking over the dining table, so that it can be seen from the living room and kitchen and when moving from the bathroom to the bedroom and from the entrance."

"So it will haunt me no matter where I go."

Yamato grinned. "Unless you hide yourself in the bathroom."

"There's a small alarm clock in there, you know."

"There is?" Yamato looked over his shoulder to the closed bathroom door. "I didn't notice."

"Yeah, there's one on the edge of the counter. Somewhere behind the nearly empty bottles of shampoo or other crap. Or somewhere." Taichi informed, stretching his arms above his head, popping his back. "Shall we hammer it up, then?"

"Sure."

-o-o-o-

"Morning, Mimi." Taichi greeted as he entered his workplace the next day.

"Good morning!" Mimi replied, bouncing over to lean against Taichi's desk. "Any more old family friends coming over today to set up their accounts?"

"Nope." Taichi booted up his computer. "But an old friend asked me to have lunch with him today, so I can't eat with you."

Mimi pouted, though it only lasted for a second. "That's alright; there are plenty of other people to lunch with."

"Yeah, but no one as good as me."

"Hmmm." Mimi pursed her lips as she moved back to her desk. "Debatable." The only reply she got was a pencil flying way over her head. "Missed me, jackass."

The two grinned at each other.

-o-

"Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice, Taichi."

Taichi waved a hand awkwardly. "Don't mention it, Koushiro; it's not like I have lunch plans that often, so it's not likely that you'd catch me on a day I wouldn't be free."

"Right," Koushiro acknowledged, staring ahead. The two were walking down the road from Taichi's workplace to a nearby park. "I thought you might have plans with… what was his name? That old enemy of yours… Ishii?"

"Ishida. Yamato."

"Right." Koushiro repeated. "Anyway, he must have work to be at as well."

Taichi shrugged, looking around at potential lunching locations. "He's just moved back here, so he's started looking for a job."

"Oh? So he came here without proper housing or prospective jobs. That's…adventurous."

"Right?" Taichi asked, eyes alight. "It's really cool to just up and move to a completely different place. I'm kind of jealous of him, but he's also kind of bringing that cultural difference here with him—like a breath of fresh air. I have to teach him things about Japan and he's teaching me things about Heaven and it's really interesting how di—"

"Wait, sorry, I'm afraid I have to stop you there, Taichi." Koushiro said, stopping and putting up a hand to emphasise the pause.

Taichi blinked at the shorter male, trying to figure out what had caused the normally polite Koushiro to interrupt him like that.

Taichi's eyes widened, upon a vague recollection of his words.

 _Had he said 'Heaven?'_

Frantically, Taichi scanned his brain, trying to remember his exact words. To no avail. His breath hitched silently. He was sure he had said 'France,' but why was his brain telling him he hadn't? Had he really revealed that Yamato was from Heaven?

"Taichi?"

No, he could turn this around and pretend that Koushiro had just misheard or that he had been thinking about something different or that it was an inside joke between himself and—

"Taichi!"

"Huh?" Taichi blinked at Koushiro, who looked quite agitated.

"Thank you for your attention." Koushiro visibly relaxed. "I wanted to notify you of our arrival at our intended lunch location."

"Oh."

"Yes, so would you like to go in?"

"Oh, yeah, sure."

As they stepped into the small café, Taichi let out a breath of relief: he had said 'France' after all.

"I was thinking we could place our orders and then step out through to the back to eat. It's a nice day, so we can very well eat outside."

"Sure, sounds good." Taichi looked around the small café. There were a few tables inside, but most were outside in a fenced-off area and they were beginning to fill up. "Looks kind of busy."

"Yes." Koushiro acknowledged. "We should be quick to order before all the tables are taken."

Taichi nodded and moved to the counter, placing his order. The lunches were quite traditional: rice, vegetables, egg, and pork all arranged prettily inside a disposable box. Koushiro followed his lead and together they made their way to the back of the garden area.

After taking their seats, Koushiro started telling Taichi about the latest software he was developing for a client. The brunet was only half-listening, more engrossed in his lunch and watching the people around him.

A young couple a few tables away were on a first date, if the awkwardness and nervous laughter arising from their table was any indication. A few 'regulars' also seemed to be occupying some of the tables, newspapers or laptops spread on the table for company.

Taichi's gaze wondered through the large windows of the café. His eyes widened. A familiar mop of blond hair was moving around inside. It made its way through the back door.

"Yamato!" Taichi shouted, waving an arm frantically. He attracted most of the other diners' attentions, but he didn't really mind; at least it gave the young couple a new topic to laugh and chat about.

Yamato walked over, carrying his boxed lunch. "Hey." He glanced at Koushiro, who was staring at his lunch, though not touching it. "I didn't know you'd be here…"

Taichi waved a hand nonchalantly. "I didn't know we'd be coming here either, but since we are all here, join us." Taichi pushed at one of the extra chairs around their four-seater table. "There's not too much space, so it's best you don't take up a table all on your own."

Yamato shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I was actually thinking of eating real quick and then going back to the library. And I don't want to intrude."

"You're not intruding." Taichi was quick to reply, an easy smile on his face. "You're working on your resumes and job applications, right?" Taichi pushed at the chair again, silently urging Yamato to sit.

"Yeah." Yamato pulled the chair out fully, sitting on the edge. "Please don't let me disturb your conversation; I won't be here long."

"You can join in." Taichi said cheerfully. "It makes for more interesting conversations to have more people involved. Besides, it's not like there's any rush to get those resumes out."

"Well, actually…" Koushiro started, eyeing Yamato out of the corner of his eyes. "Getting a job and an own apartment as soon as possible would be advisable. Leeching off someone else is frowned upon…"

"Not like he is." Taichi commented, taking a bite of his food. "Yamato's more than pulling his own weight; my apartment is clean and I haven't eaten this well since I left home and my mother's cooking."

Koushiro frowned. "But still—"

"Don't worry;" Yamato interrupted, "I'll be moving out as soon as I find an apartment. I have quite a lot of money saved up, so I can move out before I even find a job."

"But it's best to have a job before moving out." Taichi pointed out. "It's the more sensible thing to do. Besides, I enjoy the company." Taichi winked at Yamato, causing the blond to look down at his food and Koushiro to scan around quickly for a new topic.

"Anyway, Taichi." Koushiro started, sitting up straighter and looking at the brunet across from him. "I was thinking: we should start to have lunch together regularly. One or two times a week sounds good, right?"

Taichi laughed nervously, then coughed into his fist, eyes flitting around his surroundings. "Oh." Taichi reached a hand out towards Yamato. "You have a leaf in your hair." He plucked the offending piece of greenery from golden strands. "There we go." Taichi said with a smile.

Yamato returned Taichi's smile nervously, casting a quick glance at Koushiro, then at his boxed lunch. "I just remembered that I promised Hiroaki I'd pop in for a visit." He stood abruptly, taking the barely-touched box into his hands. "Excuse me." Yamato ducked his head into a brief bow before walking off.

"That was a bit strange..." Taichi mused, eyes following the form of his retreating roommate.

"If he had promised to meet with someone, then it would be polite to leave those of us he was not supposed to meet."

Taichi shrugged nonchalantly. "True, I suppose. But it still would have been nice to have the company." Taichi missed the hurt look that crossed Koushiro's face.

"Anyway, as I was saying earlier, the client wanted…"

-o-o-o-

Yamato paused at the entrance to the park he'd just left. He didn't feel like going back to the library just yet; he couldn't eat his lunch in there, anyway. He turned onto the road on his left. He might as well go to Hiroaki's music store; at least he could eat in there and have someone to chat to at the same time.

Not ten minutes later, Yamato was walking through the door of the small store.

"Yamato! Good to see you." Hiroaki greeted from the other end of the store, where he was tending to a customer.

Yamato gave a small smile and nod, proceeding to the cash register. He took a seat on the high stool, setting his lunch down on the countertop. He continued his meal slowly, watching Hiroaki chatting with the female customer.

A few minutes later, Hiroaki was seeing the smiling woman out. He closed the door, then turned to regard Yamato, arms crossing over his chest.

"What's wrong?"

Yamato arched his eyebrows. "What do you mean? Nothing's wrong."

"It looks to me like something's wrong, so why not tell me, since that's why you're here, isn't it?"

"Not really." Yamato mumbled, taking another bite of his meal. He chewed thoroughly before swallowing and taking another bite. He listened to Hiroaki poking a few random keys on the piano before eating a bit more. "Actually." Yamato put his chopsticks down.

Grinning, Hiroaki walked over to the register, resting his forearms on the counter. He gave Yamato his full attention, face neutral.

Yamato let out a large breath, staring at his lunch. "I guess…" He shoved a hand into his hair, giving it a slight tug before letting his hand drop again. "I guess I'm just worried about being a burden to Taichi. I kind of—accidentally… I _think_ I—kind of, maybe—crashed his date just now. And I'm also freeloading at the moment, since I don't have a job and it'll take a while to get even an interview, let alone a position and I don't want to be in the way; he might not be annoyed by me and my anal-retentiveness yet, but he will be."

Hiroaki frowned, though Yamato—still staring at his lunch—missed it. "Taichi has a girlfriend?"

"What?" Yamato's head snapped up. "Oh, no, it's a 'he' and they're not really officially together, I don't think—at least Taichi hasn't said anything. But Koushiro didn't seem to appreciate my being there…"

"Ah, so you've just arrived in the country and already managed to get yourself stuck in the middle of a love triangle. I see, I see." Hiroaki mused, eyes turned up to the ceiling.

A slight redness dusted Yamato's cheeks. "It's not a love triangle; I have nothing to do with the whole situation! …Apart from being an unrelated third wheel." Yamato shoved food into his mouth, mainly to shut himself up.

There was a strange glint in Hiroaki's eye, as he gave Yamato a lingering look. Then he turned around, greeting a customer that had just entered. "I kind of got the impression that Taichi likes you." He commented to Yamato in a near-whisper before marching to the other end of the store.

-o-o-o-

"Hey, welcome home." Taichi greeted, walking out of the bathroom on Yamato's left, as the blond was taking off his shoes. "I was kind of expecting you to be home already."

"Oh, yeah, sorry I wasn't." Yamato walked further in, dropping his bag by the couch. He moved into the kitchen. "You hungry?"

"Well not starving, but you could start on food, if it'll take a while." Taichi answered, flopping down onto the couch and opening a magazine.

Yamato nodded, pulling on his apron. "I went to Hiroaki's and helped him out with some customers during the afternoon." He pulled out a few pots and pans, pausing in his explanation for the duration of the racket. "Then I went back to the library and looked up a few more potential vacancies."

"Did Hiroaki pay you?" Taichi asked cheekily over the backrest of the couch.

"Ha, I wish." Yamato washed some vegetables. "It wouldn't be a high-paying job or anything, but the atmosphere is nice and my boss would be nice. But it's not like Hiroaki can afford to hire an employee. Or that he needs one."

"True." Taichi said, returning to his magazine and letting Yamato focus on cooking.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

-o-

A/N: Sorry for the wait!

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Well Mr. Ishida." The man stared intently at the notes in front of him, then looked up at Yamato with a smile. "That concludes the interview; thank you very much for coming in." He stood and Yamato did the same, shaking the man's offered hand.

"Thank _you_. Hearing more about the job, it seems the job is a great fit for me."

"Yes, certainly." The man walked around his desk and lead Yamato to the door. "We'd be glad to have someone like you on the team. Expect to hear from us before the end of the week."

"Thank you, I look forward to it." Yamato bowed before walking out of the office.

He followed the same path he had come, walking down the hallway on his left and into the reception area. He stopped to thank the receptionist, then continued towards the exit of the building. He kept his pace steady—neither rushed nor leisurely.

Once outside the building, Yamato turned right, heading towards a nearby park. The interview had taken place just after lunch, but Yamato had been too nervous to eat. There was a nice food stand by the park that he could get a snack from.

Yamato turned left onto another street and let out a huge breath. His hands were visibly shaking and he could feel the tremors running through his entire body. His face was burning and he was sure it showed in colour. His pace picked up.

After a few more minutes of walking, Yamato settled onto a park bench. His nerves were still fried, so he didn't feel much like eating just yet. He ran his hands over his face, rubbing at it a bit more aggressively than strictly necessary.

Suddenly he remembered his phone. He dug it out of his bag and turned it on.

As soon as the start-up sequence had finished, the message tone sounded. Then again, immediately after. They were from Taichi:

 _How was the interview?_

 _Shit, just realised i prolly sent that rite in the mid of ur interview. U had ur phone on silent right?_

Yamato smiled at the messages. Laboriously, he started tapping out a reply; he still wasn't used to the keyboard layout and briefly wondered how that would affect his work efficiency.

 _It went well, I think. The interviewer seemed impressed with my resume and he seemed enthusiastic about hiring me on his team. P.S. How do you get an accent on top of letters?_

Yamato sent the message and leaned back against the bench. The shaking of his hands had lessened significantly and he was starting to feel hungry. Just as he was about to get up and head to the food stand, the message tone sounded again.

 _Thats great! :D when do u hear u got it?_

Yamato smiled and started to reply, only to get yet another message from Taichi:

 _Fuck u need an accent?_

Yamato actually snorted at the second message.

 _He said that they'd get back to me by the end of the week. I really hope I get the job. And I need an accent for 'resume'._

Yamato's stomach finally got the Angel off the bench and to the food stall. Taichi's reply had arrived on the way to the stall, but Yamato chose to ignore it for now.

Snack bought, Yamato wandered around the park for a while before settling on a patch of grass by a small pond. He pulled out his phone and almost choked on his meat bun when he opened Taichi's reply:

 _Dork_

Figuring he didn't need to reply, Yamato shoved the phone back into his bag—only to have it beeping at him again.

 _I didnt mean to offend you_ _:(_

Yamato blinked at the screen for a few seconds, then put his bun down on his lap, and started typing a reply.

 _You didn't. Why would you think I was offended?_

He sent it and waited a few seconds. Taichi was always fast at replying.

 _U didnt reply, thot u were mad at me_

Yamato frowned at the phone. He kept staring until the screen turned itself off.

"Thot?" Yamato mumbled to himself, still staring at the blank screen. "Thot? Tot? Thot that you were mad at… Oh! Thoguht."

Pursing his lips, Yamato unlocked his screen and started typing his reply:

 _I 'thot' I told you to stop using stupid abbreviations that I don't know :(_

Surprisingly, Taichi's reply took long enough for Yamato to take another bite of his bun.

 _Srry :P_

Yamato rolled his eyes.

 _Whatever._ He sent back, figuring he'd be mad at Taichi once they were face-to-face.

 _wtv_

 _?_

 _Its short for whatever :D im teaching you modern human stuff. Thank me_

With a smirk, Yamato sent back:

 _wtv_

-o-

"Who are you?"

Yamato turned around, surprised at the strange male voice.

"Takeru, that's rude," said a woman with long black hair. Her dark eyes turned to Yamato. "Sorry about my husband; he doesn't always think before he speaks."

The husband, a tall blond, gave his wife a playful shove. "I do think, a lot. And I think it's a valid question; that's Taichi's apartment."

"Ah," Yamato started, feeling like he had just been caught red-handed doing something he wasn't supposed to. "I'm staying with Taichi for a while. I just moved back to Japan and don't have my own place yet."

"Moved from where? And where're you originally from? I'm Japanese-American," the husband announced, "and my name's Takeru. Takeru Takaishi. This lovely lady here is my wife, Meiko."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. We're Taichi's—yours too now, I guess—neighbours. We just got back from visiting some of Takeru's family in the States."

"So where're you from?"

"France—or, rather, I'm part French and I've lived in France most of my life."

"Oh! And now you're moving back to Japan and looking for an apartment. Do you have a job or are you looking for that, too?"

Meiko, who had been busy moving their luggage indoors, shoved Takeru into the apartment. She turned to Yamato, smiling kindly. "Would you like to come in for tea? I haven't even learned your name yet."

"Oh, sorry, I'm Yamato Ishida."

"Come on in for tea," Takeru said, poking his head outside the apartment. "We sure could use a nice cup after all the travelling we had to do."

"Sure," Yamato said, not at all sure he wanted to go through with this. At all. He didn't trust Takeru to ask easy questions.

A few minutes later, the three were seated around a white six-seater kitchen table, waiting for the kettle to boil.

"So, Yamato was it?" Takeru asked, not waiting for answer before plunging on, "France, huh? That's practically on the other side of the world. What made you decide to come to Japan? Was it for work? Or are you looking for work?"

A soft hand was placed on Yamato's shoulder and Yamato turned his attention to Meiko. She gave an apologetic smile. "Takeru's a journalist and he specialises in stories about foreigners in Japan. Mostly because of his fluent English."

"Could I do a story on you? Make it into a series on your progress. I think the readers would like that, and it would give other foreigners a concrete example of what to do, or what not to do. But I need your background first."

The water in the kettle started boiling and the kettle flicked off. Meiko got up and started working on preparing the tea.

"I don't know if I'd be the best example… I kind of came here blindly."

Takeru's dark blue eyes lit up and he leaned closer to Yamato from across the table. "That's even better! It's adventurous and there're plenty of people who would want to just up and leave for another country. It wouldn't even have to be to Japan for them; the column could become an international reference on moving and finding work abroad!"

A mug of tea hit the tabletop in front of Takeru hard enough for some of the tea to jump out of the mug. "Whoops," Meiko said sweetly, "sorry about that, honey. Could you please clean it up?" Then she moved to gently place another steaming mug in front of Yamato, whilst Takeru got up.

"Thanks."

Takeru returned to the table with a paper towel. "Sorry, Yamato, I just get so excited by the thought of being internationally recognised as a writer. My blog has international views, but not to the extent I'd like."

"Ah, that's fine." Yamato sipped at his tea. "I mean, you can write something about my attempts, but I can't guarantee that I'd be the best example."

"Oh, I don't need a great example; in fact, it might be better if you didn't succeed immediately. Not that I want you to be homeless and jobless for a long time, but just in terms of, it would encourage others to try and to not be afraid of failing. People only ever want to share their success stories. I don't want to write only those."

"As long as my story has a happy ending, that is," Yamato commented flatly.

"I'm sure it will!" Takeru encouraged, "I won't publish anything until we have the full story, but I'd like to interview you on a regular basis, if that's okay with you? I want specific details from the different parts of your journey."

"Sure, it's not like I'm busy with work or anything, so I can manage regular interviews."

"Excellent! Can we start now?" Without waiting for an answer, Takeru dashed off for a pen and a notepad.

Meiko reached over to give Yamato's forearm a pat. "Sorry about this and thank you for humouring him. I'll excuse myself now, I have some work things to take care of." She stood, taking her mug with her.

"What do you do, if you don't mind me asking?"

Meiko turned at the entrance of the kitchen with a smile. "I'm a lawyer."

"Oh."

"And I'm back!" Takeru announced, squeezing past his wife. He grinned at Yamato, notepad and pen poised. "Let's get started."

-o-o-o-

"Oh… I see… Uh huh, yes… Yes, thank you very much for your consideration." Yamato let out a deep sigh and let the hand holding his phone drop to his side.

He stood alone in the living room of Taichi's apartment. His eyes fell to the history book on the couch, which he had been reading before his phone had rung.

With another sigh, Yamato sat back down on the couch and leaned his elbows on his knees. He pressed his face into his palms, took in a breath and held it for a few seconds, before letting the air out.

He had been rejected.

The job interview, which he had thought had gone well, was apparently a bust. Or then it had actually gone well, but the employers knew who they wanted to hire and invited Yamato to an interview for appearances' sake.

Yamato rubbed his hands over his face aggressively before slapping his hands on his thighs.

"Right," Yamato said, re-grabbing the history book. "No point in moping." He opened the book to the page he had left off, but the words didn't register. Yamato closed his eyes, let out a sigh, and tried again. Still he couldn't focus.

With a more aggravated sigh, the Angel stood and started pacing around the room. Once around the coffee table. Twice. On the third time around, he grabbed his phone off the table. He should send Taichi a message. But Taichi was at work. But it was lunch time. But it wouldn't do either of them any good to distract Taichi from his work for the rest of the day with something like this. But it was important. But it wasn't _so_ important that it couldn't wait until evening.

Yamato needed a distraction of some sort.

He walked to the entrance and shoved his feet into his shoes. He paused, listening for noises outside the door. Nothing, good. He opened the door and slipped through, tiptoeing towards the stairs. It's not like he wanted to avoid Takeru, but he just didn't want to deal with the American right now. Later, he told himself. He would give Takeru a depressing interview about his first failure later.

"Heading out?"

Yamato almost jumped out of his skin at the question.

"Meiko!" The relief was palpable in Yamato's voice. "Sorry, you scared me."

"So it seems." Meiko smiled, shifting a grocery bag hanging from her left hand. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. Are you going out somewhere?"

"Uh, yeah, well not really; just heading out for a walk. The weather seems nice."

"It is. I'll let you get out there. I have a few things for the fridge, excuse me." Meiko made her way past Yamato and down the hall to her door.

"See ya," Yamato said over his shoulder and headed down the stairs.

Once outside, Yamato did what he always did when he was in need of something to do. He walked to Hiroaki's music store.

"Yamato, good timing! There was just a group of girls in here a while ago and they left you a present," Hiroaki's voice boomed across the small shop as soon as Yamato entered.

"What girls?" Yamato frowned. Had some group of Angels been sent down to fetch him or something? But why come to Hiroaki's? Maybe because it was a public place they knew Yamato frequented and they couldn't invade Taichi's own home?

"They're just some high schoolers from the nearby school. Fans of yours," Hiroaki said as he extended a small box Yamato's way.

Yamato eyed the box warily, but took it anyway. He didn't inspect the box any further, instead he turned his gaze to the elder man. "What do you mean by 'fans' of mine? Where do they know me from?"

Hiroaki blinked in bewilderment. "They've been here a few times or just walked past the window and have seen you. Didn't you have random fans back in France? I'd think someone that looks like you would be popular in school."

"In school, maybe, yeah, but we're not in school now."

"No," Hiroaki replied carefully, "but—oh!" Hiroaki's eyes brightened and he slammed a fist into his palm. "In Japan," he started excitedly, "high school girls often start 'fangirling' over good-looking men. It's quite common for a group of girls to start fangirling over store clerks or something like that. It's great for the business in the store. Wanna work here?" Hiroaki's deep laugh filled the shop.

"I wish I could," Yamato mumbled, again reminded of why he was there.

"What's wrong?"

"I didn't get the job."

"The interview you had earlier this week?"

"Yeah, that one." Yamato fingered the box in his hands. It read 'chocolate' on the top.

"Eat it."

"Huh?" Yamato's gaze shot up.

"Eat it," Hiroaki repeated, "chocolate has soul-healing properties. Or so chocolate fans say, anyway."

Shrugging and with nothing better to do, Yamato opened the box. Hiroaki busied himself with the mountain of paperwork he always had.

"This is good," Yamato said, staring at the box's contents in amazement.

"Chocolate in France not that good?" Hiroaki smirked, then frowned. "Wait, I thought Europeans had some great chocolate-making countries. Like Switzerland. And something else..."

"Ah," Yamato panicked; they didn't have human food in Heaven, nor anything resembling chocolate. "Uh, of course we had chocolate, but…" He fished around in his brain for a good excuse of not having eaten a food with soul-healing properties.

The bell above the door chimed.

"Welcome! I have your order in the back, just give me a few and I'll bring it out for you," Hiroaki announced as a woman entered the store. He then left for the back of the store.

"I'm sorry, you were here before me," the woman apologised. She seemed to be in her late thirties and had shoulder-length, dark hair.

"Oh, no, I'm not here as a customer, I'm just… here," Yamato finished lamely.

The woman giggled then nodded at the box. "I love that brand – it's my favourite. Shame I can't eat any because I have to watch my figure… Waah, you men are so lucky, not putting on weight as easily!" She waggled a finger at Yamato playfully. "But remember to brush your teeth properly tonight, so all the sugar doesn't rot your teeth."

"I will," Yamato promised awkwardly, not sure what to think of the woman.

"Here we go," Hiroaki announced, walking back into the main store with a medium sized box. "Do you have a car out front? I can help you get this in."

"Thank you, that's so kind of you."

Yamato popped another chocolate into his mouth as he watched the two exit the store. The chocolate really was good; sweet but good.

"Mind you don't get cavities eating all those," Hiroaki joked upon his return and seeing Yamato devour his third piece of chocolate.

"My mum was always worried about that, and of me gaining weight," Yamato started, an idea forming in his head to save himself from his blunder earlier, "that's why she never let me eat chocolate. I'd almost forgotten what it tastes like."

"Ah, I see," Hiroaki nodded solemnly, "I never really understood parents dictating their child's eating that much, but what would I know? I don't have kids."

"You wanted some?" Yamato asked, picking up on a slightly bitter tone in Hiroaki's voice.

" _We_ thought about it. But things happen and that's just how life is." Hiroaki forced a smile. "But enough about the past. What's this thing going on in the present about you not getting that job? I thought you said they seemed to like you."

Yamato shrugged, shoving a fourth piece of chocolate into his mouth and sucking on it thoughtfully. "I thought they did," he started after a short period of silence, "but seems they were just pretending."

"Hmm, that might happen sometimes. But at least you got the experience of what interviews here are like and—can you ask for feedback? That would be a good thing to do. Learn from it."

"Yeah," Yamato brightened up some, "I'll ask them tomorrow; it's a bit late in the day now…"

"Speaking of, shouldn't you head back home by now? Don't want Taichi to worry, do you?" Hiroaki's eyes glinted in a teasing way they did every time he mentioned Taichi to Yamato.

"I guess," Yamato mumbled. He gave the chocolate box a small shake in Hiroaki's direction. "Thanks for this. I'll see you probably later this week. If you don't mind," he added hastily.

"Sure," Hiroaki smiled, "you're welcome here any time."

With a final nod, Yamato walked out the store and headed home.

-o-

"What do you mean, you didn't get it? I thought the interview went well."

Yamato shrugged, "I thought so, too."

"Sorry." Taichi sat next to Yamato on the couch, folding his hands on his lap. "I know it's not the best feeling, getting rejected, and you're probably tired of thinking about it."

Yamato shrugged again, staring at the floor.

Taichi pursed his lips. "I know!" The slapping of palms against thighs pulled Yamato's eyes to Taichi.

"What?"

"Let's go out to eat tonight. Or order in."

"We have leftovers from yesterday."

"They'll be fine until tomorrow. We need to do something fun and different from normal to take your mind off this negative stuff." Taichi was practically bouncing on his seat. "Besides, I could use a break from the normal, boring stuff, too."

An unwitting smile graced Yamato's lips. "Fine."

"Yes!" Taichi thrust a fist into the air. "Shall we head out or order something?"

"Order something?" Yamato replied, "I don't feel like getting dressed for going out. Can we just stay in and watch a movie in our PJs?"

Taichi lifted an eyebrow, then his face turned contemplative. "That actually sounds pretty good. Pyjama party! Should we ask Takeru and Meiko—"

"No," Yamato replied a bit too quickly, but he trusted Taichi to not judge him, "I just don't want to have to explain myself—and there will be question about why we're having a 'pyjama party' on such short notice."

"Pyjama parties are meant to be held on short notice," Taichi considered this for a second, "at least if you're adults. But I get your first point; the whole point of this is to help you forget your _miserable failure as a human being_ ," Taichi finished dramatically.

Yamato smirked, "ah, but I'm not a human being, so…" He stuck out his tongue.

"Touché." The two laughed for a bit before Taichi got up and grabbed his phone. "I'm calling for Chinese, go get into your PJs."

"Yessir," Yamato saluted and walked into their shared bedroom. Their 'PJs' really just consisted of shorts and a loose-fitting t-shirt. Yamato was still wearing Taichi's things, but Taichi had said he had more than enough old tees and shorts for them to share.

When Yamato re-entered the living room, Taichi was flipping through the TV's channel guide, checking which movies were on. Quite a few, it seemed, what with it being Friday, even though it wasn't even six yet.

"We need comedy," Taichi mumbled, eyes scanning the screen.

Yamato flopped onto the couch. "You're gonna have to keep explaining most jokes to me again if we watch a comedy."

"That's fine," Taichi replied, distracted, "it's a good learning experience."

"True. Did ya call?"

"Yeah, should be here within half an hour."

"Good. I haven't really eaten—" Yamato's eyes widened and he dashed back to their room, leaving Taichi blinking after him. "I completely forgot!" Yamato shouted from the room. He came back, holding a cardboard box in his hands. "Some random girls gave Hiroaki chocolate, which he gave to me. You want to try some? It's really good. We have nothing like this in Heaven. What was the phrase you Humans use? 'Small taste of Heaven?' Well, this is just that, except not since we don't have it there."

Taichi eyed the box of chocolates – a slightly more expensive brand, but not the most extravagant – and then looked into Yamato's practically-sparking eyes. "Thanks, but I'm not really a fan of chocolate…"

"What?" Yamato looked baffled. "How can you not like chocolate? Have you tasted this stuff?!"

Taichi bit his lips together and returned to the TV screen, trying to stop himself from laughing. He didn't succeed, though, as small chuckles could be heard coming from his general direction.

"What?" Yamato repeated.

"It's," Taichi paused and pursed his lips. Then he turned to face Yamato and tried again, "it's just that," he coughed, "it's just a very girly thing, to like chocolate."

Yamato stared. "Girly? What makes it girly? And is that a bad thing?"

"No, no," Taichi hastened to explain, waving his hands up and down. "It's not a bad thing, really. It's just unexpected of a man to like chocolate and obsess that much over it. You really sounded like I'd just insulted your mother when I said I didn't like it." Taichi burst out laughing at this point, missing the brief cringe that crossed Yamato's face.

"Fine," Yamato pouted and sat back down on the couch, squeezing himself into its corner. "I'll just eat this all by myself and you won't get any."

"Fine by me, but don't complain when you get a stomach ache."

Yamato perked up at that, recalling Hiroaki's words about chocolate. "Is that the side-effect? Is that why Humans don't eat chocolate all the time?"

"Side-effect?" Taichi asked, eyebrow raised. "I guess you could call it that… Kind of a weird way of saying it, but I suppose it's still a way."

"Hmm, well maybe a penalty or price to pay for something with soul-healing properties," Yamato mused, more to himself than to Taichi.

"Soul-healing?" Taichi asked flatly. Then he let out a huge sigh. "I highly suggest you stop taking everything literally, you know." At Yamato's confused look, he continued, "Hiroaki said that chocolate heals the soul or something, huh?" Yamato nodded and Taichi sighed again. "He didn't mean it literally. It's just so sinfully good, in some peoples' opinions, that they say it heals the soul. It's basically a comfort food for some. That's what Hiroaki meant."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

The bell chimed and Taichi rushed off, needlessly shouting, "I'll get it!"

Yamato stared at the box of chocolates in his hands, face reddening second by second at how literally he had taken the chocolate 'fact.'

"Aah, this smells great," Taichi announced as he walked back in with the Chinese. "We haven't even picked out a movie yet, though."

"Just anything," Yamato said, trying to distract himself from his brooding. He really wasn't equipped to live in the Human world. This chocolate episode, the rejection, the messing up with landing in the wrong country… Everything. He was messing up everywhere.

Three years of Human Cultural Studies at university and he still felt like he knew nothing about the society he had arrived in. It couldn't all be down to cultural differences between France and Japan; he was not prepared to be on Earth at all and he felt great bitterness towards his own society for pretending that they knew anything about Humans and Earth.

"Helloo, Earth to Heaven, can you hear me?"

"Huh?" Yamato blinked, then shot back into the backrest of the couch. "Why are you so close?!"

Taichi chuckled and moved back. "Sorry, but you were spacing out and completely ignoring me."

"Did you even ask me anything?" Yamato shot back.

"I asked if 'Deadpool' would be fine. It's starting soon and it's a new movie, only came out last year."

"Taichi, you know I don't really care which movie we watch; I don't know anything about them anyway."

"True," Taichi flopped onto the couch next to Yamato and pulled the coffee table closer to them. The food was laid out on it. "Mind you, I won't be able to explain every single joke in this one to you – there are too many and it's too fast-paced to explain them all. But some of the jokes refer to other movies, too, so guess you're getting many birds with one stone with this movie?"

"Not that I'll get the references, but whatever."

"Cool. Dumplings?"


End file.
